Computer Aficionados Plan Soviet Trip

Steve Brown, 16, remembers the first time he faced the blank stare of a computer terminal at Conniston Junior High School in West Palm Beach.

``I wanted shop and didn`t get it. I got Miss (Sandra) Bolognia`s class, instead,`` he recalled. ``I wasn`t really into it. It was Miss Bolognia. She inspired us all to do our best.``

``She had a great sense of humor,`` former classmate George Forman added. ``It wasn`t a student-teacher relationship. It was more like friends.``

``We got computers in journalism class and I had to teach everybody how to use them,`` said Brown, who remains inspired as a sophomore at John I. Leonard High School in Lake Worth.

``It`s not work. It`s fun,`` said Forman, 15, who keeps up with computers at Forest Hill High School in West Palm Beach. ``It`s the future, so I have to get with it. I better learn it or I`m going to be lost in a few years.``

That`s why Bolognia asked them to accompany her on a nine-day Thanksgiving trip to the Soviet Union.

Brown and Forman always were two of Bolognia`s best students and favorite teen-agers.

``With Steve, it was his enthusiasm. With George, it was his determination to learn more -- improve himself,`` she said. ``I immediately thought of them when I applied,`` she said.

The trip is being sponsored by Holyearth Foundation, a non-profit firm now based in Bainbridge Island, Wash., near Seattle.

Nuclear physicist Danaan Parry formed the foundation about six years ago in Monte Rio, Calif., near San Francisco.

The teen-agers and their former teacher are three of about 30 students and educators nationwide who were selected by the foundation to share their knowledge of computers with similar groups in Moscow and Akademgorodok, Siberia.

They are the only Florida participants. The rest are from California, the Pacific Northwest and Washington, D.C.

``It`s the first time this type of invitation has ever been offered,`` foundation Office Manager Ruth Campbell said.

As director, Danaan has been traveling to Moscow, setting up the citizen diplomacy program.

``He`s not a fly-by-night,`` Campbell said. ``They know him there. They know his work.``

None of the three Palm Beach County residents felt any qualms about traveling to the Soviet Union -- only about enduring freezing daytime temperatures.

``I went out and bought some longjohns,`` Forman said. ``I`m also stocking up on candy bars to snack on.``

Bolognia knows the language and always wanted to visit the country -- for peace.

``I knew this was for me,`` she said. ``It`s been a lifelong dream -- and it`s coming true.``

``I feel nothing but optimism for the trip,`` she added. ``They`re going to gain tremendous understanding and maturity -- and so will I.``

Brown and Forman will settle for just learning about computers and meeting new people.

``I want to get through to the people there,`` Brown said. ``I want to make friends.``

``It`ll get more togetherness, so we`re not so far apart,`` Forman added. ``We only hear from the governments. This is a people-to-people experience.``